A Beautiful End
by DarthUmbreon
Summary: A Darius/Lux romance. Runeterra was brought to near ruin with endless war. Peace was established, but will one budding romance survive plots made in darkness to finish the beautiful end of Runeterra?


Hello! Yes, yes, I know this isn't A Bright Light or Deep Darkness chapter or the sequel to Blood on the Wind. I kept on spinning in circles while trying to write something for those two stories, so I thought I would write another story running through my head to help remove the writer's block on those two stories. This is another Darius/Lux romance, but it isn't set in the canon League of Legends Lore, but it is set within the concept of the world. So, it is in 'Runeterra', but not the same Runeterra as A Bright Light and Deep Darkness. It is a different story, but since it is a romance it'll have similar themes. This will not be the huge long epic that A Bright Light and Deep Darkness is. Now, onwards to the story!

/

The land can only stand so much mindless destruction before it dies off completely. Runeterra had started to decay away into wastes unsuitable for all forms of life from the countless centuries of war, so all of the various City-States of Runeterra came to an agreement for a time of peace for the sake of survival. An uneasy peace, but peace nonetheless. However, the damage was done to the land.

What was once peaceful grasslands, forests, deserts, swamps, snow peaked mountains, and the like, now house monsters made from twisted war magics. Twisted spirits from the Shadow Isles haunt the living for their own twisted purposes, creatures unleashed from the Void hunt prey freely, and new dangerous things unknown stalk whatever they please. Leaders from Noxus, Demacia, Zaun, and Piltover meet regularly for trade agreements; Runeterra may have fallen into near ruin but supplies still need to be traded among them peacefully for the sake of mutual survival.

However, countless of centuries of conflict are not easily laid aside. Bitter rivalry between Noxus and Demacia is not forgotten, merely pushed aside until something breaks the peace. Forces long hidden have wanted the complete destruction of Runeterra. A mere attempt at peace will not stop them from reaching this goal, or so they thought...

~Noxus /Darius PoV/ ~

As Darius packs for his latest mission, his orders from Swain float through his brain. For the past five years Noxus has been at peace, and these orders will change that. They could in fact, change the political scene from this pathetic peace with weaker nations into a more productive war with Demacia. Officially he has been tasked with teaming up a Demacian Mage, one Luxanna Crownguard, to hunt down and kill a rogue beast killing travels in a certain mountain pass. Secretly tasked by Swain, he has been ordered with assessing the threat level of this mage, and nullifying her if she is a danger to Noxus. It pleases him that they are removing threats from Noxus again, instead of playing nice with everyone.

Not much is known about this particular Crownguard, only that she was once a famous Demacian spy and supposedly a powerful mage. Once peace was reached, she disappeared completely from the political scene. Yet, he doesn't need to much about her to get the job done. All Crownguard's are notoriously dangerous warriors, and the only 'good' Demacian is a dead one. It has been over five years since he has able to shed Demacian blood, and honestly he misses the thrill of battle.

A tiny part of his brain nags that an assassin would be better suited for this mission, but Swain handpicked him for it instead of someone like Talon or Katarina. No matter, he doesn't need to be an assassin to kill a mere Demacian mage. The fools are so trusting with this new pathetic peace that it won't take much to behead her in the middle of the night. As the last of his saddlebags are packed, he leads his horse out of the stables and towards the main gates. Cornix is a large black stallion trained from birth to be a warhorse. Faithful to the core, intelligent, and ruthless in battle they make a great pair. Ever since this peace has started the poor fellow has been languishing bored in the stables. It'll be good to take him out into the field again.

Almost dancing with excitement Cornix looks over his shoulder at Darius as he mounts. With a reassuring pat on his mount's side, Darius rests his axe behind him, putting it in a holder, and heads out. No one waves goodbye, this is a quiet mission not meant to gather a lot of attention from the average Noxian soldier. As they exit from the main gates and head out on the main road, the sun starts to rise from the Eastern horizon. _This shouldn't be too complicated! I should be back home, and preparing for war in less than a month. _

~Demacia /Lux PoV/ ~

As a faint hum of happiness escapes under her breath, Lux also packs for her mission. It is simple enough; team up with a Noxian General, one Darius, to hunt down and kill a rogue monster that is a menace to traders. Unbeknownst to anyone, Lux has her own agenda with this mission. Exactly three months ago Lux found out that her mother had made plans to marry her off to fellow Demacian noble for the sake of starting a new generation.

That isn't what Lux wants, she wants adventure! So, after some discreet research about future field work missions, and magical subtlety changing paperwork, Lux put herself in this mission instead of a different mage. At the end of the mission, she plans to leave her Noxian partner behind, and head out on her own. There are countless job opportunities for mages in Piltover or Zaun, and she has some contacts there that can help her. This is a just a mere Noxian general, just some dumb soldier with an axe! Disappearing from his care at the end of the mission should be easy enough.

A tiny part of her mind nags at her about the actual mission, not her own personal plan. Sometime seems off about the mission parameters, but she can't figure out what exactly. Darius seems like an odd choice to be her partner for the mission. Hell, it seems off that they would need Noxian and Demacian working together, when a simple team for a single City State would work. No matter! She'll figure it out on the road.

The longer she stays in the city, the more chances her mother has of marrying her off. Careful to pack only what she needs, Lux is brisk at her work attempting to hide her excitement at freedom and adventure. Lux has plenty of power to use, but she doesn't want to waste mana maintaining an illusion spell to hide her shaking hands. It has taken her agonized weeks, but she has determined what is a must bring with, and something she can afford to never see again. Prism, her horse, stands patiently beside her completely unconcerned with Lux's inner anxiety. Prism is her best friend, a gentle palomino mare, who has been her horse since she was a little girl. Once she is satisfied with her packing Prism's saddlebags, Lux heads out riding tall on Prism. The sun hasn't even risen yet, the streets are practically empty.

All of her goodbyes have been said in magically hidden letters that will be appear at the right moment, so Lux doesn't stop to speak to anyone on her way out. Wasting no time to leave Demacia behind her, Lux breaks out into song as she exits the main gates. Singing is a passion of hers, a habit her mother frowns upon. It will be a while before she can sing freely anyways! Singing loudly on the open road is a good way to attract dangerous attention.

The main roads are safe for the first few miles so she can sing to her heart's content. It isn't until the main crossroads that she meets up with this Noxian General, and things get dangerous. After all, she has to worry about the dangers from the local wildlife, and a strange Noxian! All that she knows about him is that he yields a battle axe, and is a general. He wasn't in charge while she was doing her spy work in Noxus, so she has no previous Intel on him. That doesn't matter, however! All that he is a brute that will help her kill a monster before she books it for freedom. What little she knows of the monster she is tasked with killing is that is really tough, strongly armored with natural protection. Part of the reason why the mission seems a bit off is the lack of info on the monster, only that it is dangerous and needs to be put down for the safety of traders.

Once the sun clears the horizon, Lux stops her singing, and looks ahead. It shouldn't be too much longer until she meets up Darius at the Crossroads. Where the main road leading in and out of Demacia leaves the City States boundaries, it meets up at a massive crossroads intersecting with three other main roads. Once the road she is traveling on leaves Demacian lands, it turns from paved white and gray stone to hard packed gravel. What was once large grasslands, is now charred ash covered hills. In order to make the roads clear, and safe, a team of mages from Noxus cleared the grasslands with a magical fire to kill at the dangerous wildlife. However, the land didn't recover as expected. Nothing has grown in place since the fire four years ago, despite efforts from local farmers to start fertile farm lands.

Waiting for her at the start of the Crossroads is who can only be Darius. He's larger then she expected, and strangely enough, dashingly handsome. Despite having a jagged scar over one eye, his onyx eyes are bright, and alert. An intelligence gleams from those eyes, instead of the dull glassy eyed look of the average Noxian soldier. Silky, jet black hair is kept short, and well groomed. A small white streak of hair is over one temple. His gaze is cold as he looks up her up and down assessing her. Something tells her that she doesn't want to fail his gaze. Without a word, he nods his head at her before turning his horse towards the west, the general direction of their prey.

"Um, hi! You must be Darius, I'm Luxanna Crownguard, please..." Lux starts to say before she is rudely interrupted.

"Obviously. Let's get going, we're wasting daylight just standing here talking." Darius tells her abruptly cutting off her request to have him her call Lux.

"Yes, obviously I'm Luxanna Crownguard, but what I want you know to know is to please call me Lux." Lux continues to say, ignoring his rudeness.

Despite their City States being at peace, it looks like he doesn't like her, hopefully he'll be at least polite. No surprise at the immediate dislike really, even though there is a peace, Demacians and Noxians haven't been mingling. Well, at the end of this mission she won't be Demacian either! Might as well work on getting rid of her prejudice against all Noxians, after all, this brute might not be so bad. _Plus, he's handsome! It can't hurt to make new allies, plus if he doesn't suspect me of anything, it'll be easier to sneak off if this doesn't work out._ As their horses lined up side by side, Lux feels her heart start to beat faster. Uncertain why her heart would do this, Lux ignores the sensation of her fluttering heart. Darius seems completely obvious of her pounding heart.

Both of them have been briefed on the mission, and Darius seems content to not speak to her for the moment. As the miles pass beneath their horses hooves in quiet, the silence starts to bother Lux. It is an awkward silence, a rare thing for her. Most people like her, and have no problem talking with her. This is the first time that Lux has been faced with not being liked.

"Hey Darius I was wondering if you would like to..." Lux starts to speak up, however, again she is interrupted.

"I don't care what you want to do. We have a mission to complete, I don't have to like anything, much less you to get it done." Darius snarls at her.

Lux blinks in surprise at his outburst of a reply. _Huh? What he is talking about? Strange man! Well, if he is going to be difficult, I can be difficult too! He'll learn not to dislike me for no good reason! Challenge accepted Darius, you will learn to respect me by the end of this. Because if it is one thing I know about Noxians, you won't even think twice about me unless I can prove I'm strong. _Lux didn't stop and wonder why she wanted him to think twice about her, only that she does. Giving him her best enigmatic smile in response, Lux slips back into silence and starts to plot her next plan.

/

And this is it for chapter one! Like I said earlier, this is a shorter piece then my other stories. I hope you enjoyed it. Coming up next, Lux plotting out how to earn friendship with Darius! I mean, what can possible go wrong with that, right?


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